"About Us" Evaluation: : Freeport McMoRan Gets a C

Freeport McMoRan (FCX) is the world’s largest publicly traded producer of copper, the world’s largest producer of molybdenum, and a significant producer of gold. Its largest asset is the Grasberg mine in Indonesia. Headquartered in Phoenix, AZ, it has more than 29,700 employees. Its main About Us page is here.

OVERALL GRADE: C

Accessibility: B

Compared to Kemet’s Contact Us page, Freeport McMoRan’s is conventional and boring, but it does give the usual information in the usual order, and it’s easy to find.

Products/Services: B

Freeport McMoRan’s business is clear on the main About Us page and on all the sub-pages. The photos are excellent: they show not only that the company is in mining, but that it’s mining on a huge scale.

We’d suggest combining the Who We Are, Our Skills, and Strategies pages into one page, with subheads and plenty of photos. As a narrative, they’d make more sense and be more likely to be read.

Personality: D

The About Us pages give little sense of what drives the company. The Management page states that the company has a 12-member Board of Directors, and gives the names of the chairman of the board and the CEO. The History page was clearly cobbled together after Freeport McMoRan acquired Phelps Dodge in 2007. It starts with a timeline of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold from 1988 to 2007. Although the introductory paragraph states that the “Freeport” part of the company dates to the early 1900s, no history is given for Freeport, nor is any explanation given of why the other half of the company name is “McMoRan.”

At the end of the History page is a brief narrative account of Phelps Dodge, founded in 1834. This was clearly an afterthought, probably pasted in from the old Phelps Dodge site. Yes, there should be some information on Phelps Dodge, but the emphasis here is all wrong: the acquisition gets more attention to its history than the main company does.

TAKEAWAY

The best aspect of Freeport McMoRan’s site is the great use of high-quality photos that clearly convey the company’s products and scope.

Does your Web site’s “About Us” section accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). Contact us if you’d like to have your site evaluated—there’s no charge and no obligation.

Today’s example was chosen at random; CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.